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New Power Ranking Schedule in High School Football a Big Change

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Irvington in action against Edgemont last season. (photo by Justin Luftig)

April 10, 2025

By Tom Pedulla—

A new approach to football scheduling that may pain Dobbs Ferry appears to be a significant gain for other local schools, such as Hastings, Irvington and Sleepy Hollow.

While past schedules were based on enrollment, the move has been made to a power-ranking system that blends Class B, C and D to the detriment of a perennial Class C power, such as Dobbs Ferry, while benefiting programs that struggled year after year.

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Based on power rankings, Dobbs Ferry is scheduled to oppose three of the top five Class B schools – Pleasantville, Westlake and John Jay of Cross River. Those three games may take a toll on the Eagles from an injury standpoint.

“You are going against teams that are going to be bigger and have, in some instances, programs that are twice the size,” said Dobbs Ferry coach Joe Cox. “They have a full junior varsity program that has 30 kids and a varsity program that has 30-35 kids. Most of us small schools have half of that numbers wise.”

Dobbs Ferry also will face Pelham and Irvington from Class B in addition to more typical opponents like Hastings from Class C and Tuckahoe from D.

“We worry about the wear and tear of what is nearly a full Class B schedule,” Cox said.

Cox questioned the need for what will be a dramatic change.

“The state sets forth enrollment numbers for a reason,” he said. “We have seven schools in C and nine in C-D. Class B doesn’t need C-D and C-D doesn’t need B. There is no reason for this. It is not as though there are three or four schools in Class C and we have nobody to play.”

Irvington Athletic Director John Buonamano strongly endorsed the new system, however. “I’ve had a lot of discussions with my colleagues who were in favor of it,” he said. “We really felt this was an opportunity to level the playing field.”

Buonamano said some recent results for the Bulldogs, including those against Dobbs Ferry, have been “embarrassing” for his players.

He said of the weaker small schools, “We all have been living this unfortunate decline in football competitiveness for 10-plus years. We all now are going to have schedules that are going to be as competitive as they can possibly be.”

Sleepy Hollow Athletic Director Michael Arias also looks forward to the change after his long-struggling team finished 3-3.

“We feel good about the blended football schedule and are looking forward to a competitive and challenging season,” he said by email. “At the same time, we respect that some schools may have concerns about the blended schedule. Football scheduling is often one of the most difficult tasks and I’m confident that our football representatives put a lot of time and thought into the proposal. We are excited about the upcoming season and the opportunities it will bring our student athletes.”

Long-suffering Hastings, coming off a one-win season, is another that voted for the change. “We can at least compete,” said Athletic Director Drew Wendol. “We’re not going to win a state championship with this.”

Wendol said there is concern that some weaker programs would be unable to continue to field teams if the lopsided defeats continued. “If we keep losing, it’s hard to keep kids motivated,” he said.

Cox argued that his schedule was “not fair.” He added, “Part of the frustration is that there is no recourse. There is no policy or procedure for appealing a schedule.”

Buonamano noted that Dobbs Ferry, with a rich football tradition, has long benefited from a strong youth program.

“There are communities that have feeder programs when it comes to football and do an excellent job of historically, season after season, being able to produce players from a lower level and be competitive across the board,” he said.

Irvington has frequently found itself in the position of trying to make-up big deficits on the field and off.

“Our athletes work really, really hard at trying to better themselves and put themselves in a better position to have success,” Buonamano said. “At the end of the day, some of our athletes are playing football for the first time as 10^th or 11^th graders. There is a lot to this sport. It is very difficult to catch up.”

Andrew Klaich, Dobbs Ferry’s athletic director, did not respond to requests for comment.

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